499 

H8H8 



Wi 






B i'300 



Book JJ gH ?,f) 







j*& ** „ o. FIFTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY 

H/STO'RlC'^ OF THE 

SETTLEMENT OF HUDSON 



PROCEEDINGS 



TABLES SHOWING THE LONGEVITY, &C. 



PIOKEER SETTLERS. 



.a.icir.oin', o.: 

BEACON PUBLISHING COMPANY, PRINTERS. 



PROCEEDINGS 



FIFTY-SIXTH ANNIVERSARY 



SETTLEMENT OF HUDSON 



TABLES SHOWING THE LONGEVITY, &G, 



PIONEER SETTLERS. 



AKRON, O.: 
BEACON PUBLISHING COMPANY, PRINTERS. 

1876. 



Mote.— The limited edition of the " Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth Anniversary of the 
Settlement of Hudson," as celebrated June 18th, 1856, having long since become exhausted' 
the undersigned, at the earnest solicitation of a number of the people of the township, has 
caused to be printed, in the following pages, a new edition of said proceedings. A number 
of prominent errors, which had inadvertantly crept into the first edition, have been cor- 
rected in this, though the historical and statistical matter, addresses &c, have in no wise 
been changed. I trust that it will prove both interesting and profitable to such of our 
people as may secure copies thereof. 

Respectfully. 
Hudson, O., Nov. 1,1875. HARVEY BALDWIN. 



At a preliminary meeting of a number of the inhabitants of Hudson, 
Summit County, Ohio, convened to consider the expediency of calling a 
meeting of the Pioneer Settlers and aged inhabitants and their friends, 
to celebrate the Fifty-sixth Anniversary of the Settlement, by reviewing 
the providence of God in the settlement of the Township, and the Ion 
gevity of the inhabitants, it was 

Resolved, That such meeting be held ; that the Rev. H. L. Hitchcock, 
D. D., President of Western Reserve College, be requested to deliver an 
Introductory Address ; the Rev. C. Pitkin present a statistical report of 
the settlement, and the longevity of the first settlers and other inhabit- 
ants of the township; that the Rev. President G. E Pierce, D. D., 
repeat his address delivered at the Semi-Centennial Celebration, 
adapted to the present occasion; and that the Rev. John Seward follow 
President Pierce by a general repsonse, relative to the first settlers of 
the Western Reserve. 

Such a meeting was attended, agreeably to the request, oii June 18th, 
1876 and the desired addresses and reports were delivered, as in the fol- 
lowing pages. 

The meeting was opened by reading select and appropriate passages 
of Scripture, by Professor Hosford, and prayer by the Rev. Mr. Excell. 
The Choir, by request, performed sacred music between (he several 
parts, in the old familiar airs of Ocean, in the 71st Psalm, 1st Version, C. 
M.; Sherburne, in the 78th Psalm, 1st Version, C. M.; Invitation and 
Complaint, in the words set to the tunes, and closed with Old Denmark, 
in the 100th Psalm, 3d Part L. M. 






INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

BY REV. H. L. HITCHCOCK, D. D. 

I shall occupy but few moments of your time. My office is simply 
the introduction of these exercises. The filling up will be by those 
whose years entitle them to be heard on the occasion which brings us 
together ; whose observation and experience will give interest and value 
to what they say. 

Our meeting to-day is peculiar. Six years more than half a century 
since. unbroken forests covered the places now occupied by these dwell- 
ings, these churches and school-houses, that College — these gardens 
and meadows and fruitful fields. A few hardy pioneers then made an 
opening in the wilderness. Others soon joined them. They came, 
with their principles — political and; social, educational and religious 
— from the land of the Pilgrim -Fathers. The great change has been 
wrought which it is our privilege to see and enjoy. It is well nigh as 
wonderful as the accelerated speed of communication. One day, now, 
will carry us as far as required a month's diligent traveling then. 
We can transmit and receive intelligence in fewer hours than then de- 
manded weeks. 

Representatives of those pioneer families — of that first generation — 
are with us. Not less remarkable than the changes Which have oc- 
curred, is the number of them which still survive and are able to 
meet this day. Statisticans tell us that the average of human life 
is less than thirty years — that one-fourth die under seven years 
of age : one-half under seventeen : that only six out of every one 
hundred reach sixty-five, and one out of every five hundred reaches 
eighty. But more than this proportion are here, who have passed 
sixty-five and attained eighty. 

We are happy to meet you, and tender to you the deference and 
honor due to old age. We honor you, for your character, and the 
lessons of industry and economy, virtue and piety, inculcated. We 
honor you as parents; the fathers and mothers, or their associates — 
for some have passed away — of the generation now upon the stage of 
action. We honor you for your work — the homes provided, institu- 
tions established, improvements made — the foundations of present 
and future prosperity — the beginning of farther and more finished 
improvements. 

It is ours to carry on and perpetuate. Less arduous is the work. But 
still will it require resolution, energy, wisdom, integrity, patience. 
We invoke your prayers in our behalf, that we may not prove un- 
worthy of the trust committed to us, and may transmit the inherit- 



ance received, not impaired but improved, to those who shall come 
after us, and that generations yet unborn may rise up and call the 
Pioneer Settlers of Hudson and vicinity blessed. Honor always to 
the resolute, hard-working pioneer of puritan institutions. But all 
are not equally favored with those who established them here. This 
soil, with all that of the Northwestern Territory, was consecrated, by 
the ordinance of 1787, to Freedom. The repeal of a solemn compact 
has opened territory once barred against it, to Slavery. Pioneers there, 
animated by the same principles which laid the foundations of social 
order and prosperity here, can establish like institutions only in the 
midst of conflict and great peril. Well are our sympathies excited, 
and how can we otherwise than desire and pray that a kind Provi- 
dence will watch over them and give them the victory, that the home 
of the free may be extended, and the institutions of freedom may there 
diffuse their blessings. 

But you are, with reference to us, pioneers to another territory. It 
is peopled by the generations that are past. Your feet stand upon its 
borders. Ours must be there ere many years have gone. May het who 
has brought life and immorality to light, whose friendship is freedom, 
indeed — freedom from the bondage of sin and death — be your guardian 
and friend. May his presence ever be with you, and as you follow him, 
we will try to follow$ou, that our example may be a guide to those that 
shall come after; and so, at last, shall we meet in that better land, 
where wrong and painful toil, sorrow and death are unknown. 



STATISTICAL REPORT. 



BY REV. C. PITKIN. 

By general assent certain periods of human life are observed by in- 
dividuals and social circles with demonstrations of pleasure, and 
sometimes with lively expressions of gratitude to the God of our 
mercies. 

Birthdays — the Fourth of July — the day on which our Pilgrim- 
Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock — are, by different circles, regarded 
with appropriate demonstrations, as interesting epochs. We come to- 
gether to celebrate the 56th Anniversary of the settlement of Hud- 
son, by noting particularly the LONGEVITY of its inhabitants, and 
gratefully reviewing the mercy of God in this particular. 

My own mind was awakened to contemplate this subject by look- 
ing at my coevals and associates in advanced life. Casting my eyes 
over the inhabitants of Hudson, as it appeared to me, I saw an unusual 
number of gray heads bowing with infirmity toward the grave, already 
past the common boundary of human life — circumstances led to a 
more minute investigation of the facts. The result I hold in my hand. 
A catalogue of forty names of persons living, on the 1st of May, in a 

(4) 



population of some 1,500, aged from 70 to 87 years — 14 over 80, ana 26 
from 70 to 80 — 40 aged from 70 to 87. 

While obtaining these statistics, 22 others have been ascertained, 
whose average age is 66— in all, 62, aged from 66 to 87, viz: 



Aged. 

George Kilbourne 87 

Mrs. G. Kilbourne 86 

Owen Brown 85 

Lewis Clark 85 

Nathan Strong 85 

Dr. Elias Weld. 84 

Gildeon Mills 83 

Mrs. G. Mills 80 

Ziua Post 82 

Dr. Moses Thompson 81 

Joseph Harrow 81 

Mrs. Ariel Cobb 81 

Mrs . Ueerge Pease 80 

Mrs Stephen Thompson 80 

Dr Oliver Mills... 79 

Mrs. Mills 66 

Solomon Curtiss 78 

George Darrow 78 

Allen Gaylord 79 

Chauncey Case 78 

Mrs. C . Case 77 

Mrs.G. W. Holcomb 77 

Mrs. Morrill 76 

Mrs. H. O'Brien 76 

Rev. C. Pitkin 75 

Mrs. C. Pitkin 72 

Martin L. Edwards 75 

Caleb Homaston 75 

Mrs. C. Homaston 67 

Mrs. Noble Day 72 

Mrs. N. Dawes 77 

Mrs. Gideon Case 74 



John Farrar 71 

Rev. Harvey Coe 71 

Mrs. H. Coe 66 

Philip Filius 71 

E'isha Ellsworth 71 

Mrs. E. Ellsworth 70 

Mrs. Goodrich 70 

Nathaniel Stone 70 

Mrs. N. Stone 67 

Mrs. Win. Leach (Ford) 73 

Mrs Daniel Johnson 71 

Dr. J. Metcalf 70 

Mrs. Metcalf 64 

Mrs. Brewster 66 

Charles Haues 67 

Mrs C. Hanrs 69 

Orator Blakeslee 68 

Joseph Bishop 67 

Mrs. J. Bishop 69 

Mrs. Barrett 66 

Mrs . J . Oviatt 67 

Amos Chamberlain 65 

Mrs. Chamberlain 63 

Mrs. Wm. Chamberlain 63 

Jacob Chamberlain 65 

Horace Metcalf 65 

Mrs. H. Metcalf 58 

Sylvester Baldwin 65 

Julia Wells 66 

Mrs. Gross 67 

John B. Clark 63 



PIONEER INHABITANTS. 

In making these inquiries, so many interesting facts in relation to the 
first settlement of the township, and particularly the longevity of th e 
pioneer inhabitants, were elicited, that I was induced to extend my in- 
vestigations more particularly to this remarkable class of inhabitants. 
In this investigation, I have confined my inquiries to those who 
came into the township in immediate connection with Esquire Hud- 
son, irom Goshen, Conn., and those who followed in his train from 
Litchfield County and vicinity, or fell into it in New York State, and 
settled under his auspices, and were identified in the same homogeneous 
community. 

A few families from other sections of country settled at an early day 
in the extreme south and west parts of the township, and are not 
included in this census. Also a few families who soon removed from 
the settlement, and are scattered beyond my reach ; these, of course, 
are not included in my reckoning. 

A Few Preliminary Facts.— The first effective movement directly 
towards the settlement of this township was made in 1799. To ex- 
plore his township, and make preparations to commence a settlement, 
Esquire Hudson, with a small company of hired men, left Goshen, in 
Litchfield County, in the spring of this year. They arrived at Cleve- 
land on the 8th of June, and passed up the Cuyahoga River to the 
mouth of Brandywine Creek. Here they disembarked, and after a 

(5) 



search of six days they succeeded in finding the southwest corner of 
his township. Here he commenced an improvement. 

Joseph Darrow, Esq., one of this exploring Company, who assisted 
Esquire Hudson in surveying his township into quarter section lots, is 
still living, aged 81, and able to appear with us to-day. 

In the fall of 1799, having made some preparation for their com- 
fortable reception, he returned to Connecticut after his family. He 
left Goshen, with his family, in the winter, and came to Broomfield, 
N. Y. Early in the spring of 1800 he proceeded in open boats up the 
Lakes, and on the 5th of June he arrived in safety, with all his com- 
pany, at his wilderness home. His own family and that of Samuel 
Bishop, with Capt. Oviatt, Dr. Thompson and others, twenty-eight 
in number, including one infant, composed this company. Ten of this 
number are still living, viz : Dr. Thompson, Joseph Darrow, George 
Darrow, William N., Timothy, and Abigail L. Hudson, David and 
Joseph Bishop, Allen Gaylord and Mrs Gad Hollenbeck. Three of the 
fifteen who voted at the organization of the township, by electing of- 
ficers, in 1802, are living, viz : Dr. Thompson, Joseph and George 
Darrow ; and three of the thirteen who composed the 1st Congrega- 
tional Church in Hudson, organized by Rev. Jos. Badger, in 1802, yet 
survive, members of the Church, viz: Geo. Kil bourne, Mrs. Kil bourne, 
and Mrs. Stepheu Thompson. During the year 1801 the settlement was 
increased by large companies of immigrants, and these were followed 
by others in 1805-9-10-12-14, to which time all heads of families are 
reckoned Pioneer Settlers. Of those who came with their parents, un- 
married, in 1800-1, connected with their families, nine, in a few years 
found companions among others who came in single, and are accounted 
families among those who came in a married state. The following 
statistical account will be reviewed with interest. In this account, 
Parents, the number of children brought with them, the number yet 
living and their age, the number born since and the number still living, 
and their age, are noted, thus : 



(6) 



NAMES OF IMMIGRANTS. 



David Hudson, I 
Mrs. Hudson. f ' " 
Samuel Bishop. I 
Mrs. Bishop. j "' 

David Bishop 

Luman Bishop, | 
Mrs. Bishop. ( ' ' 
Joseph Bishop, I 
Mrs. Bishop. ) "' 
Gad Hollenbeck, ( 
Mrs Hollenbeck. ( " 

Joseph Darrow 

Geo. Darrow, | 

Mrs. Darrrow. f 

Allen Gaylord 

Joel Gaylord, I 
Mrs. Gaylord. J " " 
Heman Oviatt, I 

Mrs. Oviatt, ) 

Dea. Stephen Thompson, j 
Mrs. Thompson j 

Abraham Thompson, I 
Mrs. Thompson. J " " 

Stephen Thompson, I 
Mrs . Thompson . ) ' ' 
Dr. Moses Thompson, / 
Mrs . Thompson. ( " ' 

George Pease, ) 
Mrs. Pease. )' 
Eben Pease, » 
Mrs. Pease, f ' ' 
William Leach, I 
Mrs. Leach. j "" 

George Kilbourne, | 
Mrs. Kil I lourne . ) " ' ' 
Bradford Kellogg. I 
Mrs. Kellogg J*"' 

Amos Lusk, | 

Mrs. Lusk. f 

John Oviatt. | 

Mrs. Oviatt. f 

Owen Brown, I 

Mrs. Brown f 

Benjamin Whedon, | 

Mrs. Whedon. f 

Geo. W. Holeomb, I 

Mrs. Holcomb. ( 

Zina Post. I 

Mrs. Post. (" 

Daniel Jonnson, I 

Mrs Johnson f 

William Chamberlain, | 
Mrs. Chamberlain | " 

William Chamberlain. Jr.. 
Mrs Chamberlaii'. 
Nathaniel Stone, i 

Mrs. Stone. )" 

Augustus Baldwin, ( 

Mrs. Baldwin. f 

Samuel Hollenbeck, | 
Mrs. Hollenbeck. ( " ' 
Joseph Kingsbury, ( 
Mrs. Kingsbury. ' C ' " 
Elisha Ellsworth, f 

Mrs. Ellsworth. )' 

Dr. Jonathan Metcalf. I 
Mrs. Mctcall. f : 

Ariel Col >b, > 

Mrs. Cobb, s 

Gideon Mills, | 

Mrs. Mills f 

Chauncy Case, ( 

Mrs. Case. ( 



B 

B 

S' 

a 


o 
c 
e 

C 


3g 

d"» 
"■a 


r 

B 

n 


(TO 


W 
o 

a 

B" 
a 
~t 
a 


r 
< 

a' 

09 


> 
ere 

s 


1800 




6 


8 


58-67 


2 


1 


56 


1800 




5 


3 


64-73 








1800 










8 


6 


30—48 


1800 

1801 










10 


8 


26—47 


1800 
1810 










7 


7 


27-44 


1810 
1800 










10 


9 


22—42 


1801) 
1800 
1801 










13 

12 


6 

7 


40—50 
37—52 


1800 










7 


5 


32—45 


1801 




8 


3 


61—78 








1801 




2 


1 


57 


10 


3 


30—48 


1801 
















1801 




3 


3 


52—62 


7 


4 


41—51 


1801 




3 


2 


57—59 


8 


5 


42-^8 


1801 


56 


2 


1 


58 


11 


8 


33—54 


1799 
1801 




1 


1 


56 


5 


4 


40—53 


1800 
1801 










> 


3 


45—50 


1801 




1 


157 


7 


4 


38—55 


1801 


65 


4 


2 


56—57 


2 


2 


44-48 


18i'l 




5 


5 


56—67 








1801 




6 


2 


57—68 


5 


4 


45—53 


1801 




4 


3 


56 60 


11 


8 


29—54 


1805 




5 


3 


51—59 


10 


6 


23-50 


1805 




1 






2 


1 


48 


1805 


47 


2 


2 


53—55 


8 


7 


27—43 


1804 
1801 


48 








10 


7 


27-43 


1809 




2 


1 


48 


7 


6 


27—39 


1809 




11 


5 


48-72 








1809 
1801 










9 


6 


15—38 


1810 


48 


1 


1 


46 


9 


8 


27—44 


1812 










6 


2 


30 43 


1810 




6 


4 


65—76 








1810 




6 


5 


50—66 








1810 


49 


1 


1 


46 


4 


3 


31—44 


1812 


42 








5 


4 


25-38 


1813 




8 


6 


40-59 








1814 


68 


7 


7 


42—58 


3 


2 


37^1 


1814 


55 


5 


3 


47—53 


5 


4 


32—40 






105 


tib 


40to78 


211 


150 


15to56 



Of this number of Pionneer j Settlers, heads of families, the following 
are deceased : 

Died. Age. 

David Hudson 1836 75 

Mrs. Hudson 1810 55 

Samuel Bishop 1813 62 

Mrs. Bishop 1820 59 

JoelGaylord 1829 74 

Mrs.Gaylord 1825 74 

Dea. Stephen Thompson... ... 1826 90 

Mrs. I hompson 1821 80 

Abraham Thompson 1828 66 

Mrs. Thompson 1804 75 

Stephen Thompson 1841 

Mrs Dr. Thompson 1850 

George Pease 184' 



Mrs. vjeoree Darrow 1845 



Bradford Kellogg. 

Mrs. Kellogg 

Herman oviatt 

Mrs. Oviatt 

Amos Lusk 

Mrs. Lusk 

Wm. Leach 



1832 
1826 
1855 
1813 
1813 
1843 
1813 



The following are living: 



Aged. 
.. 80 



Eben Pease 

John Oviatt 

Mrs. John Oviatt 

Owen Brown 

Mrs. Brown 

Benjamin Whedon , 

Mrs. B. Whedon 

George W . Holcomb 

Daniel J ohnson 

William Chamberlain 

Mrs. William Chamberlain. 
William Chamberlain, Jr. . . 

Joseph Kingsbury. 

Mrs. Kingsbury 

Ariei Cobb 

Luman Bishop 

Mrs . L. Bishop 

Samuel Hollenbeck 

Mrs. S. Hollenbeck 

Augustus Baldwin — 

In all. forty-one. 



1813 
1827 
1816 
1850 
1808 
1833 
1809 
1847 
1843 
1844 
1813 
1848 



1840 

1848 
1848 
1830 
1832 
1838 



Dr. Moses Thompson 

Mrs. Stephen Thompson 

Allen Gaylord 79 

Joseph Darrow 81 

Gaorge Darrow 77 

George Kilbourne 87 

Mrs . (j. Kilbourne 86 

Mrs. Wm. Leach (Ford) 73 

Mrs. G. W. Holcomb 77 

Zina Post 82 

Mrs. Z . Post 66 

Mrs. Eben Pease (Oviatt) 67 

Mrs. Daniel Johnson 71 

David Bishop 73 

Joseph Bishop 67 

Mrs. Joseph Bishop 69 



Aged. 

Nathaniel Stone 70 

Mrs. N.Stone 67 

Mrs Ariel Cobb 81 

Mrs. William Chamberlain. Jr 63 

Gideon Mills 82 

Mrs. Gideon Mills 86, 

Chauncy Case 77 

Mrs. C . Case 76 

Elisha Ellsworth 71 

Mrs. E. Ellsworth 70 

Mrs . George Pease 80 

Mrs. Augustus Baldwin 65 

Gad Hollenbeck 75 

Mrs. Hollenbeck 65 

Dr. Jonathan Metcalf 70 

Mrs. J. Metcall 67 



From a careful analysis of these historic catlogues, the following in- 
teresting results may be noted : 

Of the whole number of aged inhabitants, living when this census 
was taken, 14 were in their 80th to 87th year. 
26 " " " 70th to 80th " 
33 « " " 63rd to 76th " averaging 66. 
In all 73 " " " 66th to 87th " 
Among these, 5 families have lived in their first connubial state, 
respectively, 55, 56, 60, 62 and 65 years, and two others are within a few 
months of their golden bridal. 

PIONEERS. 

The Pioneer Settlers of the township were generally in the morning 
and early meridian of life ; from 15 Y or 16 to 40 or 44 years of age. 
Most of them came into the country in 1800 and 1801, when it was 
literally a wilderness, and they have remained in the township and 
vicinity until death, or until the present time, fifty six years from the 
commencement of the settlement. 

Thirty-three of the seventy-three, i. e., more than three-sevenths of 
the whole number, were living when this census was principally taken. 
Esquire Brown has since died, leaving thirty-two now living. 

(8) 



One hundred and five children were brought into the country with 
their parents and friends. 68 of these are yet living, aged 40 to 76. 
216 children have been born in these families in this country. 155 of 
these are yet living, aged 15 to 56. Of all 218 out of 321, more than 
two-thirds of the whole number, yet survive. 

The first two white children born in Hudson, and we suppose in this 
country, are living, viz: Mrs. H. Baldwin, daughter of Esquire Hudson, 
and Harry Leach. 

The first grave opened in our burying ground was filled by the wife 
of Esquire Brown, with an infant babe on her arm, in 1808, aged 37, 
and Esquire Brown, now by her side, fills the last grave opened there 
for an adult person, aged 85. 

Of the 41 Pioneer Settlers who have died within fifty-six years, 
1 lived to the age of 90. 



5 


tt 


u 




80 to 90. 


15 


(I 


It 




70 to 80. 


5 


u 


u 




60 to 70. 


8 


« 


a 




50 to 60. 


7 


It 


tt 




33 to 50. 


Of those 32 living, 










10 


are 


80 


to 


87. 


13 


are 


70 


to 


80. 


9 


are 


60 


to 


70. 


Of all 73, 16 have numbered 80 to 90 years 


28 


(I 


<< 




70 to 80 " 


14 


u 


i. 




60 to 70 " 


15 


tt 


a 




33 to 60 " 



hence three-fifths of the whole number have lived beyond the age of 
seventy. 

While contemplating this view of life among the Pioneer Settlers 
and inhabitants of Hudson, my mind has been strongly impressed with 
our obligation gratefully to acknowledge the special favor of God to us 
in this respect. And at every step, as I have advanced, in making up 
this census, this impression has been deepened. And here let us pause 
and set up our Ebenezer, saying, with Samuel of "olden time," 
" Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." Other reminiscences crowd in 
to extend the picture, but this one — THE LONGEVITY of the 
Pioneer Settlers and inhabitants of the township — here holds prece- 
dence. 

A singular coincidence has been noticed in examining public docu- 
ments. The public census of 1850 gives Hudson 1,454 inhabitants, and 
the same census pives precisely the same figures for the number of 
inhabitants of Goshen, Conn., whence our little band of Pioneers 
emigrated fifty years before. 



(9) 



ADDRESS. 

BY REV. G. E. PIERCE, D. D. 

The character of the early settlement of this town, and of most of 
the townships on the Reserve, resulted from the connection of this 
territory with an Eastern State, and the link which bound together 
Old and New Connecticut has existed more than two hundred years. 
The existence of such a link was, in a high degree, Providential. The 
hand of God is often referred to, as seen in the discovery and early 
settlement of this continent, and especially of the Plymouth Colony ; 
it is as clearly seen in the early settlement of the Western Reserve. 

In the year 1620, King James incorporated the Council of Plymouth, 
and gave them, by charter, "the tract of land in America, between 
the fortieth and forty -eight degrees of north latitude, from sea to sea, 
to be called New England." In the year of 1628, the Council of Ply- 
mouth granted to a company a tract of land called Massachusetts, of 
certain defined limits on the north and on the south, and " in length 
and longitude throughout the main lands there, from the Atlantic on 
the east part to the south sea on the west part." This grant was con- 
firmed by a charter from Charles I., in 1629. The Earl of Warwick, 
having received authority from the Council of Plymouth, made a 
similar grant, in 1631, to Lords Say and Seal, and others, of land south 
of Massachusetts, from Narragansett river, 120 miles upon a straight 
line, near the sea shore, towards the southwest, and within this 
breadth, in length and longitude throughout the main lands there, from 
the Western Ocean to the South Sea. The English called the Atlantic 
the Western Ocean and the Pacific the South Sea, The colony of 
Connecticut purchased this grant, and in 1662 it received its charter 
from Charles II., confirming its boundaries, and hence the claim of 
Connecticut to the belt of land between 41° and 42° 2' north latitude, 
from Narragansett Bay across the continent, and in this belt of land 
lies the Western Reserve. When Governor Winthrop appeared before 
the King in behalf of Connecticut, to obtain a royal charter, he 
presented him a favorite ring, which Charles I. had given to Win- 
throp's grandfather. The King was so pleased with this token, re- 
minding him of his unfortunate father, that he gave Connecticut 
the most liberal charter that had ever been granted, and confirmed the 
title in its full breadth and extent to the Pacific Ocean. It was a 
strange form in which to convey land, a tract seventy miles wide, and 
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and we suspect that the 
knowledge of geography was somewhat imperfect in those days. 
Tradition says that the King inquired how far it was to the Western 
Ocean? The agent replied, "it has never been measured accurately) 
but it is easy enough to see the ocean from the tops of the hills." 

(10) 



We will not attempt to decide whether the Governor intended to 
obtain from the King a good Yankee bargain, but certainly the result 
has been most happy to the people of Connecticut and to the in- 
habitants of the Western Reserve. When the Legislature of Con- 
necticut, in 1786, relinquished to Congress all claims on western ter- 
ritory, and reserved 120 miles west from the western line of 
Pennsylvania, it laid the foundation of its large and permanent 
School Fund, and thereby secured the education and intellectual 
elevtaion of its citizens in all future generations, and at the same 
time secured the early survey of the reserve lands in New Con- 
necticut, and their sale to the most able, intelligent and enterpris- 
ing citizens of the State, and their early settlement by a peo- 
ple, well educated, of steady habits and good morals, and for the 
most part attached to the interests of religion ; a people, hardy, 
robust, resolute, and well prepared to endure the hardships of 
frontier life, lay the foundation of good society, and prepare the 
best institutions of learning and religion. The consequence is that 
the Western Reserve has become the garden of the West. So it is 
regarded by the most observing men of the Eastern States. For the 
intelligence and thrift of the people, for its schools and institutions 
of learning, for its churches and the establishment and support of 
religion, there is not a territory that will compare with it, west of the 
Alleghanies. In fifty years it has made as great advancement in all 
these respects as was made by the parent State in the first hundred 
years. Nay, more; in wealth, in enterprise, in permanent improve- 
ments, in what has been done for the cause of education and religion, 
in what has been done for the establishment and endowment of its 
College, it has already made greater advancements than Connecticut 
had at the commencement of the present century, when this first off- 
shoot from that State was transplanted. Its population is nearly 
equal, at the present time, to that of the parent State, and with about 
the same extent of territory, it is capable of sustaining, and will soon 
possess, a much larger population. 

In the plan of God, the Western Reserve had a place. In the days 
of old, and as far back as the period when our ancestors landed on 
Plymouth Rock, commenced a series of Providential arrangements, 
whereby this fair land, this goodly heritage of ours, was given to a 
peculiar people. Men were as ignorant of what results would come 
from the extension of the territory of Connecticut across the continent, 
as they were of what would result from the discovery of the continent 
itself, or as they were what states, what institutions, what systems of 
government, what progress in the arts of civilized life, and what a 
great and prosperous nation were to result from the planting ot the 
early colonies upon the Atlantic coast. But the same Providence which 
revealed the continent to Europe, and held it in Reserve for more than 
a hundred years, till England should be in readiness to thrust out her 
best sons, the most noble men of modern times, to plant colonies in 
the wilderness, and lay the foundation of our growing Republic, that 
same Providence ordered each occurring event which bound the 

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Western Reserve to an Eastern colony, and for more than a hundred 
years held it in reserve as the rich inheritance of our fathers and our 
children. Had the men of England known how far it was from sea 
to sea; had the weak and capricious Charles failed to he pleased with 
that trifling token, his father's ring given to Winthrop's ancestor ; had 
the wording of that verbose charter, once hid in a hollow tree, and now 
preserved among the antiquities of Hartford, been different in a single 
sentence ; had Sir Edmund Andreos succeeded in obtaing the charter 
when the lights were put out and it was carried off"; had Connecticut 
failed to establish its claim to the Western Reserve, as it did in asserting 
similar claims in New York and Pennsylvania ; had Congress refused to 
assent to the claim ; had one of a thousand events, dependent upon the 
agency of men, which we can suppose, occurred ; had there not been 
a God in heaven, watching over and guiding all events, even the most 
minute, the Western Reserve might have been distinguished in no way 
above other western territory, and we should not have been permitted 
to exult, as we do this day, in the virtues and achievements of our 
fathers, and in the goodly heritage with which we are now surrounded. 

Historians have often noticed the peculiar time when the New 
England Colonies were planted, and have noticed the state of Europe 
and especially the state of England, as peculiarly favorable for the es- 
tablishment of just such colonies as were planted. At no other time 
could men of such heroic virtues, of such firm principles, such devotion 
to the cause of liberty, such unbending adherance to the Word of God, 
such firm resolves to give to posterity institutions by which their prin- 
ciples should be perpetuated, having been drawn together in a remote 
wilderness, to encounter the hardships and perform the labors by which 
their great design was consummated. If we look back fifty \ ears we 
may be led to admire the providence of God, in selecting the time when 
settlements in this portion of our country shouldcommence. Connecti- 
cut, the parent State, was then in a condition to throw off a more vig- 
orous offthoot than it could have done at any earlier or later period. 
It had passed the poverty, the weakness, the hardships and the dangers 
of early settlement, and had become stable in its government and 
institutions, and moral and religious in its habits, but had not yet 
reached the period of wealth, and luxury, and effeminacy which 
occasion the decline and downfall of states and empires. The early 
immigrants from Connecticut to the Reserve were not generally rich, 
but enterprising, virtuous but industrious, and disposed to plant institu- 
tions after the best patierns that were left behind. 

From about the year 1790 to 1830 was the golden period of the Con- 
necticut cl lurches. This period is marked by revivals of religion 
throughout the State, distinguished for their power, purity, and 
permanent influence, greatly enalrging the churches, improving the 
morals of society, and bringing the people of the State, to a great extent, 
under the control of religion. The pastors of the churches during that 
period, were able, intelligent and pious men, acting in concert, preach- 
ing the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel, and applying the truth 
with great fidelity to the consciences of men. The work of the Con- 

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necticut Missionary Society was done chiefly during that period. 
It was greatly 1o the advantage of the churches on the Reserve that 
they came oft' from the parent stock during such a favored period, 
bringing with them impressions of revivals in their best forms, having 
a high regard for their doccrinai preaching, and enjoying to so great 
an extent the labors of the Missionaries of the Connecticut Missionary 
Society. The first settlement in many of the townships is to be re- 
garded in the light of a missionary enterprise, begun and carried 
forward with the express design of extending the kingdom of Christ. 
Pacts show that this was true of the first settlement of the township of 
Hudson. The colony was chiefly from Goshen, in Connecticut, a rich 
farming town in Litchfield County, distinguished for its economy, 
thrift, orthodoxy and benevolence, making annually a larger contri- 
bution to the Connecticut Missionary Society than any other inland 
town in the State. This town enjoyed the labors of the Rev. Asahel 
Hooker who was among the first class of ministers in the State, and 
was a teacher of theology to numerous young men gathered at his 
house In 1799, the year of emigration to Hudson, a powerful revival 
took place in Goshen, and seventy-seven members were added to the 
church. The benefits of this revival were afterwards felt by the 
colonists at Hudson, who were organized into a church in 1802. In the 
early religious movements of the towu we find the influence of such 
men as Deacon Stephen Thompson, who was a deacon in the church 
at Goshen, David Hudson and Henian Oviatt. With the two latter I 
have often conversed about their connection with the church in Goshen, 
and the motives by which they were influenced in deciding to emigrate. 
It is evident they had in view the establishment, in this distant wilder- 
ness, of a Christian church, and of those institutions by which the best 
interests of society are promoted and perpetuated. Mr. Hudson said to 
me, that in early life he had embraced sentiments of infidelity, and that 
be used his influence to the injury of the Christian religion. After a 
change in his views, and his connection with the church of Christ, he 
wished to do something to repair the injury he had done, and to ad- 
vance, to the extent of his ability, Jhe interests of that cause which he 
had labored to destroy. These were the views which prompted him to 
emigrate. To us it might seem a strange movement, that a man, in 
order to do something for the interests of religion, should quit his home, 
and bid farewell to friends and kindred, and attach himself to a small 
Colony, and by a toilsome and dangerous journey of months, place him- 
self in an unbroken forest, hundreds of miles beyond the boundaries of 
established society and the evidences of worship. But the results have 
shown that he and his associates were wise in their decision, and that an 
immense amount of good has been achieved, which they never could 
have done if they had remained in Goshen At that early period, 
Foreign Missions, as a means for the advancement of the Christian 
cause, were scarcely thought of in this country. Hitherto religion had 
been advanced by selecting new fields, planting new colonies, and or- 
ganizing new churches upon new localities, as population increased and 
a wider range of settlement was required. And the Missionary enter- 

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prise consisted in sending Missionaries to the new settlements, and 
preaching the gospel to those who were enduring the hardships, and en- 
countering the dangers of frontier life. In these circumstances, it is not 
strange that Christian men in Connecticut should have regarded the 
establishment of the institutions of education and religion on the 
Western Reserve as the most promising Missionary enterprise in which 
they could engage. The early efforts and sacrifices of the men who 
came to Hudson show that they were actuated by the motives which 
I have h scribed to them. They never suffered the Sabbath to pass by, 
after the settlement was commenced, without religious worship ; and by 
great effort, and great pecuniary expenditure, they provided for the 
enjoyment of religious ordinances among themselves, arjd sought to pro- 
mote the progress of religion in this part of our country. I shall not dwell 
upon this portion of their history ; I only allude to it to present the 
character of the enterprise, and to call attentiou to the Christian and 
heroic virtues of the men by whom it was conducted. In the conversa- 
tion to which I have alluded, Mr. Hudson said that he had no sooner 
brought his family to the town than he erected an altar for God, and 
commenced worship on the Sabbath, and it was the first desire of his 
heart to see the day when a church should be organized within the 
township, and he rejoiced in that day. The next object of desire was 
that this church might enjoy the labors of a settled pastor, and he 
lived to see that day and was glad. Then it was in his heart to see a 
house erected for the worship of God, and that he saw completed to 
his great satisfaction. "But," said he, "the College — the College; 
that was a child of my old age. I never expected (o live to see that." 
Yet the College was in perfect coincidence with his plans and with his 
Missionary spirit. He spent most of his time in visiting Christian 
families in all parts of the Reserve, and securing the organization of 
churches, and it was with him a matter of painful solicitude, how the 
infant churches rising up on the Reserve were to be supplied with able, 
faithful ministers, in sufficient number to meet their wants. The Col- 
lege came in as the appropriate instrument to supply the deficiency. 
The church was organized in 1802; Mr. Hanford, the first pastor, was 
ordained in 1815. The first house of worship was dedicated in 1820. 
The College was chartered in 1826, and the first College edifice was 
erected the following summer. These benevolent designs — truly 
Christian — truly Missionary in their character — could not be carried 
on without cost. Ami I am about to give the fathers of the township 
credit for a generous liberality unparalleled in the history of benevolent 
enterprise. The house of worship for the first Congregational Society 
has cost, first and last, not less than $8,000. Add the cost of the other 
churches in the village, and you have not less than $16,000 paid for 
houses of worship. In the year 1824, Commissioners were appointed 
by the several Presbyteries on the Reserve, for the purpose of consulting 
and advising relative to an institution of learning. They met at Aurora, 
in June, and among other things, they recommended the appointment 
of Commissiners to locate the Institution, taking into view all cir- 
cumstances of situation, the moral character of the people, facility of com- 

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munication, amount of donations, the health of the place, &c. These 
Commissioners met on the 22d of September 1824, and decided to locate 
the Institution at Hudson, Portage county, Ohio, on a plat of ground 
northeast from the center. The College Record adds that the amount of 
subscription for this location was about $7,150. The decison of this com- 
mittee, appointed, as it was, from all parts of the Reserve, speaks well 
for the township of Hudson. And the amount subscribed must certainly 
be considered liberal, when it is remembered that this was but twenty- 
four years after the first settlement of the town, that the competition for 
the location was not very great, and that the whole population of the 
town, according to the census of 1830, six years afterwards, was but 775 

The settlement was commenced at New Haven, Conn., in 1638. It 
was the most opulent colony that ever came to New England. The 
leading men were rich merchants. According to a census and inven- 
tory, taken five years after the settlement commenced, the population 
was 419, and the property £36,000. Sixty -two years afterwards, in 1717, 
Yale College was removed from Say brook to New Haven. The compe- 
tition between Saybrook, New Haven, Harrford and Wetherfield was 
very great. Saybrook subscribed £500, and New Haven £700, and ob- 
tained the location, and the first college was erected at a cost of £1,000. 
The people of Hudson, earlier in their history, with less population, and 
much less ability to secure the location of a college, gave more than 
twice as much as New Haven. 

The people of Hudson have been repeatedly called upon to aid the 
College, and have always given a most liberal response The second 
principal effort in its behalf was in 1830, the third in 1837, ami the 
fourth in 1845 and 1848. The whole amount of donations in this town, 
since the origin of the institution, rejecting subscriptions not considered 
good, and muking a liberal allowance for the manner in which pay- 
ments were made, exceeds $50,000. What other town on the Reserve, 
not exceeding it in wealth and population, or even in the United States, 
has, within the last thirty years, has given a like sum to an institution 
of learning? 

I have referred to what was given in New Haven to Yale College, in 
1717. About the same time, Elihu Yale, a rich London merchant, who 
had resided for about twenty years in the East Indies, and was Governor 
of the East India Company, became a liberal patron of the College at 
New Haven. Between the years 1714 and 1718, he sent donations in 
books and in goods (it appears that College donations were not made in 
cash in those days), to the value of £500, and a little before his death he 
ordered goods to be sent out to the value of £500 more, but they never 
were received. For £500 paid in books and goods, the name of Gov- 
ernor Yale is handed down to posterity, as one of the most liberal 
benefactors of mankind. This donation, togeth-r with what was given 
by the citizens of New Haven, enabled the Trustees to erect the College 
edifice, which was built oi' wood and painted blue; a building one hun- 
dred and seventy feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and three stories high, 
containg nearly fifty studies, besides a hall, library and kitchen, and the 
historian adds, " It made a very handsome appearance." I am not able 

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to determine what was the value of Governor Yale's donation of £500, 
paid in books and goods, but I suppose six, and perhaps ten citizens of 
Hudson have each given as much to Western Reserve College. Many 
individuals in this township have made donations of §500, and of $1,- 
000, and upwards. The largest donations have come from the estates of 
Heman Oviatt and David Hudson. From each of these sources the 
College has received about $12,000. The motive in giving was not sim- 
ply to promote the intesests of the town, but to prepare an institution of 
learning adequate to the wants of the Western Reserve, to provide an 
able and learned ministry for its numerous churches, to extend the 
blessed influence of learning and religion to the wide western country, 
to hand down a rich inheritance to posterity, and to extend the 
triumphs of that Kingdom whose interests the fathers came into this 
wilderness to promote. 

There are other ways in which the liberality of the town has been 
shown besides in donations to the College. T am not able to say how 
much has been paid to support the preaching of the Gospel ; probably as 
much as has been contributed by any other town of equal wealth and 
population on the Reserve, perhaps more ; the contributions to foreign 
objects have always been liberal. I am told that before the separation 
of the churches, they amounted, in one year, to $600 ; they have proba- 
bly been greater since. The school houses of this town, so far as I have 
observed, are neat, tasteful edifices, and I believe that many competent 
teachers have been employed and sustained. There was in the town- 
ship, from the beginning, the spirit of public improvement, and large 
outlays were made in clearing away the woods and building roads and 
bridges. And as a crowning liberality of this class we have a very large 
amount subscribed, and much of it paid, to the railroad, an enterprise 
which, in the first instance, might have died in its infancy had it not 
been for the energy and support of the citizens of Hudson. Some have 
estimated that an amount not less than $400,000 has been given by the 
people of this township for the public benefit. 

It has not been the result of this liberality to impoverish the people, 
but we suppose this is prominent among the means whereby the wealth 
of the township has been steadily advancing. The original proprietors 
of the town paid Connecticut fifty-two cents an acre, or for the 16,000 
acres of the five miles square, $8,320. The value of the township, real 
and personal estate, according to the grand levy for 1850, which is a low 
estimate, was $418,788, showing that the properly of the township has 
doubled nearly six times in fifty years, upon the cost of original pur- 
chase. The levy of the township for 1856, shows an estimate of $884,818, 
the property having more than doubled in six years. We believe that 
the foundations of its future prosperity are thoroughly laid, and that it 
may anticipate much greater progress, in wealth, and in every thing 
that can elevate and adorn civilized life, for fifty years to come. 

And here it is my wish to cast a glance upon the prospect before up, 
and ask what lessons are taught us, by the years gone by, to guide us 
and our children in the duties yet to be discharged, as time shall advance. 
After more than fifty years have passed since the first settlement of 

(16) 



Hudson, we have come together to call to remembrance past events, 
to commemorate the virtues and heroic deeds of our fathers, and 
gather wisdom for the more faithful discharge of our obligations. What 
is our duty, as taught us by the history of the past ? I think it will be 
admitted to be manifestly incumbent upon us to enter fully into the la- 
bors of those who have gone before us, and cherish the interests which 
were dear to them, and carry out the benevolent designs, which were 
instituted by them at such an immense amount of toil and sacrifice. 
Like them, we must see to the cultivation of our soil, and render it pro- 
ductive, and strive to increase the wealth and reputation of our town- 
ship. We must remember our public improvements, and encourage and 
patronize them, as the sources of our future wealth and future prosperity. 
We must attend to our schools, and secure the best education to the ris- 
ing generation. We must cherish our College, as an institution of prime 
value to ourselves and our country. And above all, we must sustain the 
institutions of religion, support the preaching of the gospel, and, by the 
combined influence of our churches, endeavor to bring all our population 
under the power of Christianity. To accomplish these ends, we shall 
need, like our fathers, to practice a rigid economy. If I mistake not, 
this, among them, was characteristic. It was seen in their houses, furni- 
ture and dress ; it was seen in all their habits, and strongly advocated 
in the avowal of their sentiments. It was a wise economy, suited to 
their circumstances. Such an economy we shall need, in order to con- 
summate desirable ends We shall need to introduce it in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil, in the choice of our domestic animals, in our houses 
and fences, in our furniture and equipage, and in our modes of conduct- 
ing business. Our economy must be just such as is called for by our con- 
dition. If an inhabitant of some countiy where wood is sold by the 
pound, were with us to-day, he would look around on these decaying 
trunks and branches in our fields and forests, and say, "why this 
waste?" not knowing that economy would not permit a man to gather 
such materials for wood. Economy is not the same thing in the coun- 
try that it is in the city ; is not the same in a new country that it is in 
an old one ; not the same thing in a rich country that it is in one that is 
poor. To practice the economy of our forefathers, it is not even needful 
that we do every thing as they did. Let us have an economy suited to 
the Western Eeserve, and calculated for the latitude and longitude of 
Hudson, and make the needful advancement just when circumstances 
shall call for it. 

Another virtue of the early settlers of this town as we have seen, was 
their liberality, and this we are bound to imitate. If they practised 
economy in all things — even in small things — they were liberal upon a 
great scale, and their benevolence was that of a most generous mag- 
nanimity. It is a general principle, recognized in the Word of God, 
that a liberal spirit does not impoverish, and that, on the other hand, a 
man is prospered in life much in proportion as he is ready to impart of 
his possessions to promote worthy objects. Have we not reason to sup- 
pose that a principle every where true, has had, and will have its ap- 
plication among the citizens of this township ? While the liberality of 

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the people has promoted the general prosperity of the town, is there not 
ground for discrimination ? Have not those families who have been most 
generous in their benefactions been most prosperous, and have they not 
become most wealthy ? And have there not been other families, where 
they have witheld altogether too much, and it tended to poverty and 
degeneracy and degradation ? I leave it with those who are more 
familiar with the history of the town than I am to ariswer these in- 
quiries. Certain I am, however, that it is only a generous magnanimity 
that has secured the best interests of the place, and the great ends to 
which many of our people have been devoted in days that are past, 
and that this alone will secure our future advancement. 

And I only add that, like the early fathers of our township, we must 
recognize the supreme God as the arbiter of events, and trust in His arm 
to guide and protect us, in all our doings. Our fathers' God must be our 
God. It is owing to the blessing of Heaven upon their labors that we 
are permitted to-day to rejoice in the work of their hands. The God 
whom they revered and honored, whose worship they established, and 
whose name they spread abroad, was with them in the hour of danger, 
guided them through the wilderness, established them in their chosen 
hibitations, prospered them in their undertakings, and enriched them 
with a goodly heritage. We believe that the same superintending Prov- 
idence which directed our fathers to this chosen spot, and enabled them 
to lay the foundations of valued institutions, has still important purposes 
to fulfill, and it is for us to co-operate with him in the fulfilment of his 
benevolent designs. And our God may be trusted. He who directed to 
the discovery of this continent, and guided the early settlement of the 
Atlantic colonies, He who connected this portion of our land with an 
Eastern State, and brought out chosen men to change the forest to a 
fruitful field, and clothe the earth with verdure, and cover the hills with 
flocks and herds, to establish schools and institution* of learning, to or- 
ganize churches, and build houses of worship, will prosper his people and 
guide to the full development of his merciful designs. 

We have been carried back to-day to the scenes of other days, to 
nearly the extent of man's memory, the events of more than fifty years 
ago. On the fourth of July, 1800, near the center of our public green, 
under the shadow of lofty trees, that the sun could scarcely penetrate, 
all the people of Hudson and vicinity, men, women and children, to the 
number of forty-three, were assembled to celebrate the anniversary of 
our national independence. All these grounds, far and near, were cov- 
ered with dense forests; they had long echoed to the tramp of the wild 
beast and the savage, but as yet had not become accustomed to the 
sound of the woodman's ax. Where this village is, where the churches 
are, where the Colleges stand, on the many farms where flocks are graz- 
ing and tasteful mansions rise, grew the lofty monarchs of a hundred 
winters, ruling, in sullen silence, the dense, dark forests by which they 
were surrounded. That assembly of pioneers was a goodly band. There 
were stout hearts and firm resolves : and they offered their prayers and 
their praises to Freedom's God, and claimed Him as their Father and 
Protector. In the year 1900, less than fifty years from to-day (and some 

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of our children will be there to see it), I can suppose the people of this 
township will be assembled to observe the second semi-centennial cel- 
ebration of its settlement, perhaps upon the same common — covered 
with beautiful green, enclosed in parks, with iron railing, overshadowed 
by lofty elms hanging in graceful arches and rendered cool by the play 
of copious and refreshing fountains, while all around its borders are 
stately mansions and marts of trade and beautiful temples dedicated to 
the living God. There will be congregated our children and our chil- 
dren's children. On the morning of that day, the reiterated noise of the 
distant cars will be heard, the thronging multitudes will come from the 
east and from the west and from the north and from the south, from 
a surrounding country densely peopled, and highly cultivated, and 
blessed by all the elevation that can be given by the arts of civilized 
life, and by wealth and learning and religion — thronging multitudes, 
like pilgrims in annual visit to the Plymouth Rock, will come to 
spend the festal day with the intelligent and refined citizens of Hudson, 
and join with them in commemorating the virtues of their an- 
cestors and extoling the heroic deeds of the men who, in the midst of 
incredible hardships, laid the foundations for the promotion of learn- 
ing and religion, and thereby became the greatest benefactors of man- 
kind. We who stand here to-day have received a rich inheritance, and 
it is for us to hand ifr down, not only unimpaired but greatly improved 
and enhanced, to posterity. Let us remember that we are to enstamp 
the impress upon the coming generation, and prepare them for the high 
destiny that awaits them as the citizens of our great and growing re- 
public. 



(19) 



CLOSING ADDRESS, 

BY REV. JOHN SEWARD. 

During a period of forty- five years, since I commenced speaking as an 
authorized preacher of righteousness, it has not been my habit 1o begin 
a public discourse by making apologies ; and I am now too old to adopt 
the practice. In many cases I regard it as a species of deception, if not 
of absolute falsehood. I shall proceed at once to the work before me, 
which is to say something about pioneers and pioneering on the 
Connecticut Western Reserve. Many historical facts have been al- 
ready this day presented to your view, respecting the settlement of the 
Reserve and the experience of the Pioneers. I was not among the 
earliest of those who came into the wilderness to make it their 
permanent abode, being about ten or eleven years later than the 
first immigrants. Before my arrival, however, but few of the first 
settlers had died ; .and by my excursions as a Missionary, I became 
personally acquainted with most of the inhabitants then in the coun- 
try, and was thus familiar, to a great extent, with their earlier 
and their later experience in subduing and cultivating a dense and un- 
broken forest. Hence in the position I occupy to-day, you will permit 
.me to make a very free use of the first person, both singular and plural. 

That I was acquainted with most of the inhabitants on the Reserve 
forty-five years ago may appear incredible to the present generation, 
when on this territory there is now a population of 300,000, perhaps 
400,000. But at the census of 1810, the year before I came out here, 
there was a population on the Connecticut Western Reserve of only 4,- 
454, and but very few of these west of the Cuyahoga River. The inhab- 
itants of the city of Cleveland are this day ten times as many as all the 
.inhabitants of the Reserve forty-six years ago ; and I suppose there are 
now in the single township of Hudson more than one- third as many peo- 
ple as there was on the Reserve at that time, and these were not scat- 
tered as now in every township throughout the territory . On the noth- 
east corner, at Conneaut — where I spent my first Sabbath in Ohio, and 
preached to a little handful of hearers on a cold October day, in a little 
open log school-house, without door, window or chimney, exposed to 
wind and smoke — several families by the name of King and a few 
others had located. Capt. Nettleton and a very few other families were 
at Kingsville, and Father Badger with his son-in-law Smith, and some 
few others were at Ashtabula. Judge Austin, Dr. Hawley, Dea. Case, 
with a considerable number of other families had settled in Austinburg, 
with a church organized and the Rev. G. H. Cowles for their pastor. 
There I spent my second Sabbath, and preached three times to Mr. 
Cowles' people while he went out to supply some destitute neighborhood. 
There were a few people in Morgan and Rome. At Harpersfield a church 

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had been organized, with the Rev. Jonathan Leslie for their pastor, and 
among the prominent members were the Harpers, Esq. Cowles, Judge 
Wheeler and Judge Tappan — not Ben. Tappan, fori never heard that 
he was a member of any church. Having visited these few settlements, 
you have done with the inhabited portion of Ashtabula County in 1811. 
The remainder of the county was almost an unbroken wilderness. As 
we pass on through where Madison and Perry now are, we find no hu- 
man being to salute us in our solitary horse back ride. Reaching Grand 
River we cross where Painesville now stands — then having a few scat- 
tered log-cabins — and passing down about three miles on the west side 
we arrive at the plantation of Capt. Skinner, a professor of religion, and 
in whose dwelling the hungry and weary Missionary always found a 
place for refreshment and repose. His eldest daughter was the wife of 
Esq. Hine, of Youngstown, and his house much resorted to by the early 
settlers on the Reserve. Between his plantation and where Painesville 
now is, Gen. Paine had settled on the west side of the river ; Gov. Hunt- 
ington and Capt. Pepoon on the east side. Capt. Pepoon had died be- 
fore my arrival, but the family resided there. Some of the sons, particu- 
larly Joseph, have since been somewhat prominent for their activity and 
zeal in the concerns of religion. " 

By particular request I spent my third Sabbath in Ohio at Painesville, 
and preached in a rickety, unfinished building used for a Court House, 
standing in a forest of scrub oak. Judge Calvin Austin, of Warren, was 
one of my hearers ; and though not a professor of religion, urged me to 
visit and preach to the people in Warren. Leaving Painesville, on the 
ridge road you would find within the distance of some three or four 
miles, Esq. Jones, a family by the name of Nye, Mr. Blish, Judge 
Merry and Judge Clapp. Going south from J udge Clapp's, you would 
find none till you reached the log cabin of William Hudson, at the four 
corners in Chester, with a little cluster of cabins a mile or'a mile and a 
half east of him, called the Minor Settlement. Going easterly to Bur- 
ton, you would arrive at a pleasant township, where Burton, Hamilton, 
the Cooks, Fords, Hitchcock and others had a prosperous and promising 
settlement — a township distinguished by furnishing men who have 
adorned and dignified some of the most responsible offices which the 
State of Ohio can bestow, one of whom now stands at the head of yon- 
der College, and has spoken to us with such thrilling interest to-day. 
After visiting Deacon Pomeroy, of Hamden, Capt. Spencer and the 
Taylors, in Claridon, and a few other families in these townships and in 
Huntsburg, you have about completed the censns of Geauga county. 
The remainder was covered with dense, unbroken forest. 

In Parkman a few families had located ; two Deacon Woolcotts, and a 
few others of Farmington ; some in Gustavus ; Kinsman, Andrews, Dr. 
Allen and others in Kinsman ; Brockway, Gen. Smith, Hays, the Bush- 
nells, and a large number, mostly from Hartland, Conn., were at Ver- 
non and Hartford ; a settlement at Vienna, with an organized church, 
and Rev. N. B. Derrow as their pastor ; a settlement at Brookfield, Hub- 
bard, Youngstown, Poland, Boardman, Canfield, with Esquire Mygatt, 

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the father of George Mygatt, as one of its prominent men ; a few in 
Newton, Braceville and Southington, with a few families in other town- 
ships. Warren was the county seat, and there you would find the Lanes, 
the Leavitts, Judge Calvin Austin, old Deacon Beeves, Gen. Perkins, 
Judge Pease, Thomas D. Webb, and many others. We have now done 
with the population of Trumbull county, tben the largest and most pop- 
ulous county on the Reserve. 

I will here introduce an incident which occurred to Judge Pease and 
myself. It happened in the spring of 1815, I think in May. After the 
close of the war, the government ordered a public sale, at Cleveland, 
of a number of the horses which had been used in the war. Judge 
Pease was the Government Agent or Auctioneer, and had appointed a 
certain Saturday for the sale. 

Notice of the sale had been previously given, but I was not aware of 
it, and had made an appointment to spend the Sabbath and preach in 
Cleveland, as a Missionary, for it was truly Missionary ground, there be- 
ing no church of any denomination in the place, and but very few pro- 
fessors of religion. According to my usual practice, I went to the place 
of my appointment for the Sabbath on Saturday, and found the little log 
village of Cleveland in a great bustle, crowded with a class of men such 
as the occasion might be expected to call together — horse jockeys, spec- 
ulators, many of them hard drinkers, vulgar and profane, with here 
and there a sober, and respectable man, who had corne in with the hope 
of obtaining a useful horse for home service. The most comfortable 
stopping place at that time in Cleveland, for a Missionary and his horse, 
was at the tavern then kept by Esquire Wallace, who afterwards re- 
moved to Northfield, and died there a few years ago. His house, with 
Christian hospitality, was ever open, free of charge to all ministers of 
the Gospel. It was built of logs, according to the common fashion of 
those early times, with two apartments, separated in the center by a 
covered hall. In the rear, some additions had been built, for a kitchen, 
sitting room, &c. Some of my old associates may have been in the 
house, and can remember its form and structure more particularly than 
I can describe it. To avoid the "noise and confusion," much greater, 
probably than that which Gen. Cass experienced there a few years ago, 
I was kindly invited into the back part of the house, to sit in the family 
room, with Mrs. Wallace and the little children. She was an amiable 
and I believe a Christian lady. 

Supper time arrived, and I was requested to repair to the dining room 
and take a seat at the table. This room was in the west end of the 
main building, with a door opening into the hall. After I was seated, 
the crowd came rushing in, thundering through the hall, swaggering 
and swearing in such a manner that I was inclined to retire from the 
table. I kept my seat, however, and they seated themselves without 
ceremony or order, filling the long table. Then commenced the rattling 
of knives and forks and plates, mingled with the noise of many vocifer- 
ous tongues. By chance, or more properly speaking, providentially, 
Judge Pease had taken a seat nearly opposite to me, and just as all 
were commencing to eat, he took his knife, and made several heavy 

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raps on the table, fixing all eyes upon him. Then mildly but firmly 
requesting attention, he kindly asked me to implore a blessing. Sur- 
rounded with respectful silence, I did so. During the remainder of the 
meal we had peace and quiet, all conducting themselves with becoming 
sobriety, and retiring through the hall with a deportment widely differ- 
ent from that of their boisterous entrance a few minutes before. 

Having mentioned Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, above, a few re- 
marks on settlement in that county may not be out of place. In 1811 
there was a settlement in Euclid, with a small church, and the Rev. 
Thomas Barr as pastor. Among the prominent settlers were Judge Lee, 
the McElraths, Elder Ruple, Esquire Doan, aud Mr. Shaw, most of 
whom were from the State of New Jersey. In Newburg were Mr. Wil- 
liam Gaylord, the Kingsbur^s, Hubbells, and others. In Cleveland 
were Judge Walworth, Dr. Long, the Perrys, Kelleys, Major Carter, and 
a few other families. Mr. Shephard, Judge Barber, the Brainerds, and a 
few more, had gone west of the Cuyahoga river, and settied in the town- 
ship of Brooklyn, and a family or two were settled near Tinkers' creek, 
on the old State Road from Hudson to Cleveland, and a few families in 
Warrensville. Having visited these settlements, you have become ac- 
quainted with the inhabited portion of Cuyahoga county. 

A large tract of land north of Hudson, which now comprises the town- 
ships of Twinsburgh, Northfield, Independence, Bedford, Solon and 
Bainbridge, extending to the Lake, was at that time the favorite resort 
of the deer, the elk, the bear, the wolf, and other animals that flee on the 
approach of the woodman's ax. 

The townships in the old county of Portage were .more generally set- 
tled at that time than those of any other county on the Reserve, there 
being but lew townships in which there were not some inhabitants. I 
believe there were none in Edinburg, Streetsboro or Twinsburgh, and but 
very few, if any, in Northfield, Brimfield, and a few others, but nearly 
as soon as Hudson was settled Delavan Mills had located in Nelson, Am- 
zi Atwater, Elias Harmon, Rufus Edwards and others in Mantua, Eben- 
ezer Sheldon in Aurora, Tappan in Ravenna, and Cays and others at 
Deerfield. Windham had been settled by a company from Becket 
Mass., with a church organized before their removal. Old Deacon Al- 
ford was tie patriarch of this emigrating church, assisted by such men 
as Thatcher Conant, Benjamin Higley, Dillingham Clark, Isaac Clark 
and others, distinguished for intelligence and respectability. A colony 
also came here from my native parish of Granville, Mass., led by sucn 
men as Charles and Lyman Curtiss, David Coe, Levi Sutliff, &c. 

Samuel and Thaddeus Andrews, the Bostwicks, Chapmaus Ariel 
Case, Israel Coe, (the father of our venerable brother here), Esquire 
Spelman, and others, had made a promising beginning in Rootstown. 
Under the active management and by the great exertion of the Rev. Da- 
vid Bacon, Tallmadge had been settled by an intelligent, industrious and 
evangelical class of inhabitants. Most of the original settlers have gone 
to their eternal homes, but the township has become wealthy, populous, 
orderly and respectable, through the exertions of those who have effi- 
ciently entered into the labors of the original projectors and founders. 

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v^ 



Enough, I think, has been stated to satisfy those present that a Mis- 
sionary, in 1811, might have become acquainted with all the people then 
on the Reserve. But you, my aged associates of by-gone days, need no 
such statements to establish the truth of that assertion. The names I 
have mentioned were familiar to you forty years ago, and with many of 
them you were personally acquainted. But few of them remain, and 
we, with hoary heads and trembling limbs, stand here to-day as the rep- 
resentatives of a former generation, soon to pass away, and bid farewell 
to the fair scenes and brilliant prospects with which we are now sur- 
rounded. O, how the times and circumstances have changed. Then we 
girded our-elves, and went whither we would ; now another girds us, 
and carries us whither we would not. In the time it then took us to 
travel from here to Cleveland they will now carry us half way to Boston 
or New York. And intelligence from New England, which could not 
then reach us in less than three to four weeKs, now comes al most in the 
twinkling of an eye. My respected and beloved associates, may we so 
spend the brief remnant of our days as to meet our blessed Redeemer 
where partings and pains will never enter. 




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